U.S. crypto custody service BitGo has announced that it is planning to develop a new ETH based coin, Wrapped Bitcoin. The token, which will be backed by BTC (1:1), promises to bring “stability and value” into the cryptomarket.
Solely a week after Goldman Sachs and Mike Novogratz invested in BitGo, its CTO Benedict Chan wrote a post confirming the company’s decision to issue a coin which will enhance transparency and value “of Bitcoin to Ethereum’s expansive ecosystem of decentralized applications.”
The company which has raised a total of $70 mln offers to use the token for novel purposes including on decentralized exchanges “as collateral for stable coins or lending, for payments and flexible smart contracts within the Ethereum ecosystem.” Kyber Network, Gnosis, MakerDAO will power the launch which is expected circa January 2019, according to the announcement.
Chan specifically noted that the digital asset will utilize the full proof of reserve backed 1:1 with Bitcoin. Thus a specific dashboard will contain data, including addresses, on every BTC making it easy to verify on the blockchain each Bitcoin that is held in custody. A blockchain explorer like Etherscan can enable the check.
Besides, BitGo’s CTO specifically emphasized the envisaged token’s usability. In the context of BitGo’s mission to make crypto applicable for businesses, he claims that the new token will secure the market’s transparency.
“We’ve seen significant institutional interest in the tokenization of assets like securities, commodities, and real estate. For BitGo, WBTC is an opportunity to contribute technical leadership to the advancement of blockchain and tokenization platforms,” he wrote.
Chan invited also invited all builders that realize the necessity for tokenization and WBTC use to join the project.